Pascell Bio Files Patent for Solid Tumor CAR-T Therapy... AACR Presentation Scheduled

[Asia Economy Reporter Lee Chun-hee] Bacsell Bio, a company specializing in the development of anticancer immunocyte therapies, announced on the 14th that it has jointly filed a patent for a solid tumor-targeting CAR-T cell therapy through collaborative research with Y-Biologics. Bacsell Bio will present part of the related research at the American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) conference on the 8th of next month (local time).

This CAR-T cell therapy is equipped with a receptor that specifically recognizes PD-L1, a type of immune checkpoint protein expressed in refractory solid tumor cells that helps evade immune cell attacks. In particular, it was developed with the goal of directly and selectively attacking and eliminating cancer cells or immunosuppressive cells expressing PD-L1, beyond merely inhibiting their function.

This patent is the first joint research outcome derived since the signing of the MOU between Bacsell Bio and Y-Biologics in November last year. Y-Biologics provided a single-chain variable fragment (scFv) that specifically recognizes the PD-L1 protein, and Bacsell Bio independently developed it into a chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) using proprietary technology, verifying its cytotoxicity through cultured cancer cells and animal cancer models.

Currently, CAR-T therapy research and development (R&D) is being conducted worldwide, but so far, only products targeting relatively simple antigens in hematologic cancers have been commercialized. Bacsell Bio explained that the CAR-T cell therapy jointly developed by the two companies adopts a strategy that efficiently combines their technologies to target solid tumors, which have diverse and highly mutated target antigens and frequently undergo ‘antigen escape,’ from a new perspective.

A Bacsell Bio official stated, “Through sufficient preclinical experimental research, we have confirmed the potential for CAR-T cell therapy to be applied to various solid tumor treatments,” adding, “We plan to present part of the research results as a poster at AACR.”